🔗 Share this article

Transpired Ruben Amorim endured defeat by lower-league opposition. Survive a decisive continental showpiece against one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive home defeats against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, undermining some of the club’s best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to tango. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who often railed his squad for losing individual battles crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of a England's top division's most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position as much to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among football's true generals: a strategic mind that the club's mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Over System and Ideology

For example, this was the director who being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his beloved formation. Naturally, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when delivered by a man of a man the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, holder of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually he might agree to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause activated. The director speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being ready to receive.

The Supreme Power Behind Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his desire for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to embrace data science and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style to football “shall be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical football matters, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally superior. Whom else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a modern arena that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

A New Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Over Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with ideas and drive to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. But how many businesses have these guys established? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the strategy in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their methods accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not really creating the product, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined while those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

A Modern Corporate Football: Accountability for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance at work: the rise of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose errors can always be sacked away without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss him for using too much that system. Bring in the process guy and then bin him for taking too long. And above all show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.